i hate my tiny, rented house!

[NumberFour]

and moving is not an option

any inexpensive ideas on making it nicer? we have (wait for it.....) sunshine yellow walls, navy blue curtains and a fawn coloured carpet covering laminate flooring in the lounge. navy blue carpets up staircase with dark stained banister. same navy blue carpet on landing and my and DH's bedroom. our bedroom has same vomitty yellow walls with (and this is the best bit) pale blue checked half length curtains. DS's room has beige carpets, and orange checked curtains.

Bathroom has cornflower blue walls and that GORGEOUS fake pine panelling on bit around bottom of bath. White bath and basin and loo.

DH will not paint and I cannot do it alone.

WWYD aside from have another glass of wine and sit on MN?

our house is rented so we really don't want to spend much at all.

Why can't you paint alone? I do all the painting in my house, always have done. Its not hard (just a bit boring IMHO) but put some decent music on and it passes the time. Or get a girlfriend round to help

Definately paint the pine panelling white!

You can paint the rest by yourself - just do it a little bit at a time. When dh sees how good it looks he'll join in. You could ditch the curtains and replace with neutral blinds from Ikea - they do some cheap ones.

Are you allowed to paint as you rent.

I'd replace the curtains. We privately rent, too, and I nearly always take off the curtains that are there and replace them with my own, then put the old ones back on when we move out.

Do you sew? I don't really, but I have one of those £20 sewing machines and have been able to make my own curtains for peanuts.

I have been known to cover walls with fabric stapled to the walls - you need a craft stapler to do this.

I'd pull up the carpet in the living room, too, and staple it back down for the move out. Sorry, but I hate carpets, especially in living rooms.

If it's a long-term let or you don't forsee teh landlord selling up soon, then I'd ask to paint.

I've done this, too. It's not hard to do on your own at all, it's actually fun and it's great practice on someone else's walls.

I try to put my own stamp on places with accessories, too, as much as possible.

You can do the bathroom in a sort of New England white washed wooden style.

we have a lovely landlord so I am sure he would be fine with painting.

painting the bathroom panelling sounds like a damn fine idea.

also love the idea of blinds from Ikea.

i childmind as well, so the house is full of toys. i have loads of Really Useful Boxes full of toys which DH hates but it is a life saver for me.

i am a bit chicken to paint on my own, but I know that there is no reason why I cannot go to a DIY shop and ask for advice....

thanks for replies. i appreciate it.

expat, i don't sew AT ALL but a friend of mine in similar circumstances does ..... wonder how cheeky it would be of me to ask her??

ComeOVeneer: please excuse my ignorance, but can you tell me more about New England white washed etc?

hi! i rent...as soon as i moved in a i instructed my landlord to paint the whole lot cream and that i needed new carpet throughout...or say you will do it if he gives you the paint. my house cam e with blinds...that are completely transparent, even in the day time not just when you put the lights on when dark, so bought curtains...from tjhughes not very expensive did the whole house for under £75, and i have two bay windows of 100" drop!
just go room by room...and bribe husband to paint! but you can also do it yourself, i have been helping a friend to do hers this week.

NF - ask your friend if she will do it for mates rates and obviously the cost of the material. seems fair to me.

Painting = easy and cheap.

Truly, and surprisingly fast. Slap it on the walls and you'll have cheered the place up in no time. Even if you just attack everything with magnolia for now, and think of colours and schemes when your feelign inspired/rich/brave

Me and my mum painted a 3 story house form top to bottom, just fling yourself at it. Was quite pregnant too!! It's not hard at all.

Now wallpapering....dear me....

Oooo and massive cotton natural white rugs from Ikea. Cheap as chips and can sling them in the washer. Rented house trick of old!

my landlord is actually okay enough so I think I may ask him about painting. we have been here for 4 years 3 months already.

i think i may ask my friend about the curtains. she even did her own removable couch covers!!!! thing is, I don't know where to start.

go to B&Q: ask for advice re paint
but I would have to assess size of house to work out how much to get.

how do i measure curtains: are ready made ones measured according to width of windows or width of curtains when hung - that is, so that they are wider than the actual window. oh, bugger it! cannot even explain that!!!!!

but [encouraged emoticon] by replies!

We painted our minging rented house magnolia when we moved in - We bought a big plastic tub of the stuff for £8 from Homebase and that did 4 rooms (some of the colour schemes before that were, erm, interesting).

Expat, where did you ge5t a sewing machine for £20 from?

Sheik, my DH who is trying his damnedest to get out of this says the yellow is too dark to just paint over.

any experience with garish, 80s type decor????

i have to change my house. it is making me miserable.

I privately rent atm and we have swopped most of the curtains as it was all a bit bland. I have my own curtains from the house that is on the market, but if you were worried about spending a lot on curtains for a rented property then look on ebay. I got dd bedroom curtains on ebay.

I would like to add some paint with colour but am not allowed, but I wonder if that would be the case with you as the colour scheme sounds awful. I woudl definitly paint the bath panelling and bannister it would probably look nice then and definitly cleaner.

I bet you could paint, I did it when I rented this really grim flat on Ealing High Street and it looked fabulous when we had finished.

Check out the home department of TK Maxx

We have beige carpet eveyway apart from the hall which looks nice but again is not very me so we have added our own rugs and cushions to lift things. This is the time of year when you can pick up some bargains.

I also hunt through charity shops and auctions for pictures and paintings.

i got my £20 sewing machine in John Lewis, and when I saw Good Housekeeping mag last month they still have 'em!

i don't sew at all, either, but this machine is dead easy to work. and i just basically took a bolt of cloth and hemmed it up on all four sides with a slot on the top for the curtain rail.

i also got insect netting from Lidl and hemmed it like a voile for summer and put wee sparklies and butterflies and that on it.

the yellow's not too dark to paint over.

just paint a couple of layers of white over the yellow first and then what colour you like.

try it! it's fun and easy.

there is a charity shop close to us that has loads of curtains. Big Ques is how the do i measure them?

I asked that on mumsnet ages ago and got an answer number 4 will searh for the thread. I think you buy between 1.5 to double width depending on how much gather you want

Agree about buying cheap white paint to cover the yellow and then paint on your colour.

i love MN (or is that a tad too NM???)

not the one I was thinking of but a thread about curtains here

number fourn - measure where you want the curtains to cover & write that down clearly (so include the width each side of the window). measure in centimetres. go to a curtain shop & ask them - if they're any good, they will help you. there is some flexibility, as it depends how 'flouncy' you wan them. alos, make a note of how the existing ones are hung.

if you're utterly clueless & just want the same size as the existing ones, take thos with you.

for painting over dark colours, it takes more coats if going over a strong, dark colour, but not impossible. one trick is to get matt brilliant white, and do one coat of that, it helps to 'kill' the underneath colour. you will still probably need to 3 or 4 coats of cream or shatever. you can get v cheap 'buckets' of plain colours in places like b&q. you'll need a big brush for doing inside edges of walls, a small brush to do the 'neat' edges at top & bottom, a roller & a roller tray - you often get packs of these as starter sets as well, also cheap.

to wash out brushes & roller - do it really thoroughly, or you will end up buying new ones. BUT if you're going to use them again in a few hours, when you can do the next coat, just wrap them in cling film, making sure it's completely sealed.

only do one room at a time though - you will have to plan carefully around the childminding, but emulsion does dry in a few hour s& you can do a room in a weekend. i'm assuming you're just doing walls, not doors & window frames -that is a much longer term project.

I think all those £20 machines have gone. I couldn't find it.

Yes walls in emulsion is easy - and you don't need to fret too much about how much you need - just buy one bigish tin and buy more when you run out - it's very unlikely that any chain or brand will suddenly stop doing that shade of white. It really isn't hard - I did our bedroom when I was 40 weeks pregnant!